An Investigation into Formative Assessment Practices of Teachers in Selected Schools in Fort Beaufort in South Africa Mongezi William Kuze 1 and Almon Shumba 2 1 School of Post Graduate Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Fort Hare, Main Campus, South Africa 2 School of Teacher Education, Faculty of Humanities, Central University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa E-mails: ashumba@cut.ac.za, almonshumba@yahoo.com KEYWORDS Investigation. Formative Assessment Practices. Teachers’Schools. South Africa ABSTRACT This study sought to investigate how teachers implemented Formative Assessment (FA) practices in Grade 9 Technology classrooms in the Fort Beaufort district. One Grade 9 learner class was purposively chosen because of the time they had spent on the programme. A sample of 5 teachers and 25 learners were selected from the 5 schools used in this study. The investigated learning area was Technology. Data were collected from the participants using in-depth interviews, observations and documents on assessment. Data were analysed using themes and descriptive statistics in this study. These themes were decoded into smaller sub-themes under each main theme. The study found that teachers in this study had no knowledge of how to implement Formative Assessment in their classrooms and had a negative attitude towards it. Practitioners need to be re-trained on how to implement the Formative Assessment policy in schools. INTRODUCTION All assessments are created to serve some purpose, whether to diagnose a learning disabil- ity, to identify a learner who needs remediation, or to determine whether a school has met its achievement goals (Burns 2005). However, no one assessment serves all of these purposes well. Summative Assessments and high-stake tests, are designed to provide information on the learners’ progression to the next grade and teachers have tended to rely on these tests and examinations at the end of the year in their assessment of learn- ers (DoE 1997). The results of these tests and examinations might tell teachers which learners in their classes have failed and which have not, but they do not tell us the kind of instruction the learners need to master the outcomes or what errors in thinking led to the incorrect answers in the tests (Burns 2005). In order to get that kind of information, teachers need the results provided by the consistent use of classroom-based For- mative Assessment (FA). Although Formative Assessment is included in government policy documents, there has been “little classroom-based research to document what teachers do when they undertake formative assessment” (Loughran 1999:199). Assessment can be one of the most difficult aspects of teach- ing and judging the work of a learner can weigh heavily on the mind of the teacher. In spite of the anxiety assessment poses, knowing how to assess learners in order to improve instruction is a core principle of effective teaching. Formative Assessment, also known as assess- ment for learning (Angelo 2003), takes place anytime during a lesson. It identifies strengths and weaknesses of the learner and is intended to enhance the learner’s final performance. This means that it is not only used to support learn- ing, but also teaching. ‘Assessment for learning’ (Angelo 2003:5) is stressed as a way to improve teaching and the learning of learners and also as an ‘integral part of the learning, teaching and assessment cycle.’ The study is of value because FA is “central to everyday classroom practice as it involves both teachers and learners in reflection, dialogue and decision making” (Angelo and Cross 1993: 5). The teacher obtains and uses information about learners’ progress towards the learning goals. A learner’s needs to know where s/he is and under- stand not only where s/he wants to be, but also know how to ‘fill the gap’ (Black and Wiliam 1998: 140) between his/her current knowledge *Address all correspondence to: Professor Almon Shumba School of Teacher Education, Faculty of Humanities Central University of Technology, Free State, Private Bag X20539, Bloemfontein 9300. South Africa. E–mail: ashumba@cut.ac.za & almonshumba@yahoo.com © Kamla-Raj 2011 J Soc Sci, 29(2): 159-170 (2011)